Reverse Pedagogy is an experimental, nomadic art school started by Winnipeg artist Paul Butler at the Banff Centre last year, in which participants were asked to direct the residency collectively. The canoes, before leaving for Europe. Image: reversepedagogy.com The goal – which VoCA loves, see our post on art schools HERE – was to create an experiment in which studentsRead more…

Paolo Veronese and the Petrobelli Altarpiece 29 MAY – 7 SEPTEMBER 2009 The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Paolo Veronese, The Petrobelli Altarpiece (reconstruction). Image: churchtimes.co.uk If you’ve ever wondered about how paintings are restored, there’s a great video on the National Gallery of Canada website where Stephen Gritt, Chief Conservator explains the history of Veronese’s The Dead Christ SupportedRead more…

France sells the Louvre’s illustrious name to the UAE for $555 million as Abu Dhabi begins construction on the Jean Nouvel designed museum. Jean Nouvel’s design for the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. Image: pushpullbar.com Read Carol Vogel’s article in today’s New York Times, HERE. Despite the fact that France may have prostituted herself, the curator’s mandate is to create aRead more…

“(The recession has) brought up a lot of questions about what I’m doing and whether I want to keep doing it,…I’m not really qualified to do much of anything else. I’d have to go back to school. I don’t see the possibility of making a steady income in the near future. I don’t think I can sustain it….” Read theRead more…

Oakville is almost an hour’s drive outside of downtown Toronto, and Oakville Galleries is one of VoCA’s favorite regional galleries. Gairloch Gardens is a beautiful, lakeside garden on the shores of Lake Ontario that makes the drive to Oakville worth it even without art in the garden. Audiences enjoying the Tree Listening Project. Image: alexmetcalfe.co.uk British artist Alex Metcalf’s TreeRead more…

Coming up on VoCA: -BOOKS: Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum, by Michael Gross -PREVIEW: Canada’s other contribution to the Venice Biennale, Reverse Pedagogy, featuring a bunch of crazy Canucks paddling canoes through the canals of Venezia… -JAMIE’S AREA: The Food Series -THE WINKING CIRCLE: The Eccentrification of the World!Read more…

Painter Graham Peacock has been teaching painting at the University of Alberta since 1969, when he arrived in Canada from England. Graham Peacock, Valor, 2003. Image: grahampeacock.com Perhaps not strictly speaking underrated, Peacock has been exhibiting throughout Canada on a regular basis since 1971. In 2003 he had an exhibition of recent work at the New New Painting Museum inRead more…

VoCA was sad to hear that the excellent Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson – rated by Phyllis Lambert as Canada’s finest – has died. Erickson’s Hugo Eppich House, designed 1979. Image: arthurerickson.com Take a tour of his wonderful homes and buildings on his comprehensive website, HERE. Erickson’s Graham House, designed in 1962. Image: arthurerickson.com Read the full obituary, HERE.

VoCA’s not going to the Venice Biennale this year, but we received news of a fantastic-sounding event on the Island of San Giorgio, in the Palladian Refectory that we highly recommend checking out, if you’ll be there. Paolo Veronese, The Wedding at Cana. Image: wga.hu Theatre, moviemaking and art combine in this extraordinary sounding multimedia performance by the Dutch directorRead more…